


Untitled Declan-Centric Pacific Rim Crossover

by Emjen_Enla



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Abusive Drift Partnerships, Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Drift Compatibility, Drift Side Effects, Dubiously Canon Drift Science, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Past Abuse, Psychological Trauma, Psychosomatic Illness, Seizures, The Drift (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27103738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emjen_Enla/pseuds/Emjen_Enla
Summary: Declan Lynch lied his way through the psych eval needed to get himself cleared to pilot after Niall Lynch's death, and he has pretty sure that anyone could have called him out on it, but no one ever did.This is an unfinished, abandoned work being posted as part of the Good Intentions Abandoned WIP Fest.
Relationships: Declan Lynch & Aurora Lynch, Declan Lynch & Matthew Lynch, Declan Lynch & Niall Lynch, Declan Lynch & Ronan Lynch
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: Good Intentions: Abandoned and Unfinished WIPs





	1. Fragment 1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. What is this fic, Emjen?  
> Exactly what it says on the tin; a Pacific Rim crossover about Declan that I don't think I'm ever going to finish.
> 
> 2\. Why did you abandon it?  
> I've been working on this AU in one form or another for a couple years, but never got anywhere near finished with it. The first chapter I'm posting is actually a fragment of the first version which I'm adding because I think it's a bit more concise about what happened with Declan and Niall and therefore useful to understand the larger fragment as an incomplete work.
> 
> 3\. Why doesn't it have a title?  
> Because I'm a crap titler and am not going to put the effort into titling an unfinished wip.
> 
> 4\. Okay, I know this is an abandoned WIP fest, but I _really_ love this. Is there any chance you'll finish it?  
> *sigh*...Of all the wips I'm going to post for this (I've got a lot so I'm going to post a couple), this one is probably the most likely to someday be picked up again, because I really like this idea. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if it never gets picked up again which is why I'm submitting it here. It's a possibility, yes, but it's unlikely so don't hold your breath.
> 
> 5...You do realize Matthew's OOC, don't you?  
> Yes, that was a conscious choice.

**Partnership 1: Niall Lynch and Declan Lynch**

All most people knew about the new partnership in command of the Jaeger Greywaren Dreamer was that after Colin Greenmantle and his wife, Piper, had driven themselves insane attempting to Drift even though they weren’t compatible, Niall Lynch had needed a copilot and he’d turned to his son Declan and Greywaren Dreamer was back in business. The truth was much darker. In all actuality, the Father-Son team were only barely Drift compatible. It was a partnership that Command should have caught and stopped, but Niall Lynch was one of the most famous pilots and no one did anything.

Declan Lynch quickly learned to hate Drifting. He and Niall didn’t have the same instincts so they were constantly coming in conflict. Unfortunately, Niall was by far the more dominant partner so he would keep them in alignment by jerking Declan into line and forcing them both forward. The psychological whiplash gave him migraines and nerve pain and a hundred more minor physical ailments the doctors at Washington D.C.’s Shatterdome couldn’t explain. Drifting _hurt_ as if Niall had rubbed Declan’s brain raw and refused to give it time to heal, which wasn’t far from the truth.

That was why when the Kaiju Bigfoot ripped the right side of Greywaren Dreamer’s head and Niall Lynch away, Declan’s sobs were not of grief but of relief. The man was _gone_ and Declan’s head was his own again.

That could have been it. Command was already calling out of the ETAs of Raven King and Fox Way, but Declan wasn’t ready to sit back and let someone else finish the Kaiju. He wasn’t a hero--didn’t even believe they existed after Niall--he wasn’t even really an idealist. All he knew was that Bigfoot was circling away from Greywaren Dreamer on the way to land. If the Kaiju continued on its current path, it would strike the Shatterdome head-on and that was where Declan’s mother and brothers were. He could not live with himself if he let something happen to them.

“Hold on,” he told Command. “I’m not done yet.”

Then he pulled the emergency controls to take solo control of Greywaren Dreamer.

It wasn’t easy. Niall’s half of the Drift had been so dominant that Greywaren Dreamer didn’t know the shape of Declan’s mind. The Jaeger stumbled as Declan tried to move it. The strain of the solo command burned through him but it wasn’t that much more painful than Drifting with Niall had been. Declan got his bearings and primed Greywaren Dreamer’s cannon at Bigfoot’s back.

By the time the Gansey siblings of Raven King and the women of Fox Way showed up twenty minutes later, Declan was plunging Greywaren Dreamer’s sword into the Kaiju’s back.

“Kaiju down,” he told Command, then collapsed into a seizure.

He woke up in the hospital to Ronan screaming that Declan had hated Niall and left him to die, and Declan couldn’t say anything to defend himself because any defense he could have made would have been a least a little of lie.


	2. Fragment 2

Declan Lynch lied his way through the psych eval needed to get himself cleared to pilot after Niall Lynch’s death, and he has pretty sure that anyone could have called him out on it, but no one ever did. That didn’t really surprise him because anyone could have noticed the problems with the Lynch-and-Lynch partnership years before Niall Lynch--the great hero of Greywaren Dreamer--got crushed in the palm of a Kaiju’s hand and no one had.

So Declan had lied and the psychologist should have been able to figure out he was lying giving the numerous notes about psychological trauma, psychosomatic pain and illnesses and unexplained nosebleeds in his file, but she’d just let him lie and signed the form. It was just more proof that despite anything the Pan Pacific Defense Corps said about valuing their pilots, they ultimately just wanted to kill Kaiju.

Declan was fine with that, after all, how was he supposed to keep his brothers safe if he couldn’t pilot? He had no illusions about him and Ronan being drift compatible, even before Ronan had blamed him for Niall’s death and punched Declan in the face while he was still in the hospital, but he had thought he’d be able to get back in a Jaeger and watch his brother’s back. He hadn’t expected to not be able to find a Drift partner.

Actually, that wasn’t quite true. In theory, there were a number of people Declan was compatible with, but in practice he couldn’t manage a Drift. All the techs shook their heads and proclaimed their confusion, but Declan knew exactly what was going on. He’d spent his entire piloting career being jerked around by a man he was barely Drift compatible with. His mind must have decided that it was done with all this trauma and just turned off. Which of course left him stuck watching while Ronan and Joseph Kavinsky killed Kaiju after Kaiju in increasingly reckless ways and cursing his traitorous subconscious.

But there was still a slightly horrible part of him that was guiltily thankful that Niall was gone.

~~~~

Declan woke up feeling vaguely sick. That was not necessarily an unusual thing, but he hadn’t gotten used to it yet. He rolled over, pressed the heel of a hand to a temple and moaned. This was the absolute last thing he needed today or any day, really. 

After a few minutes of lying in bed feeling miserable, he hauled himself up and stumbled across the bare metal floor to his postage-stamp bathroom for a shower. He’d been living in this tiny apartment since he’d been old enough to request solo housing on base, but had never bothered to decorate it. That drove Matthew crazy but Declan didn’t care. 

He leaned against the wall of his shower as the water ran over his body. The heat didn’t help his queasiness or headache, but it did ease his aching muscles and back so he tried to think positive. 

He’d just finished toweling off and dressing when his doorbell rang. “Declan?” A familiar voice yelled through the door “Can I come in?”

Declan crossed to the door and unlocked it. As the door opened he made a conscious effort to look like he was feeling better than he actually was. Matthew was standing outside, his hair still a little messy like he’d just rolled out of bed and into his clothes. Declan really hoped he had at least brushed his teeth.

“Morning, Matthew,” he said. “Don’t you have training this morning?”

Matthew shrugged. “Most of the other cadets are doing Kwoon training today, my commander said I didn’t need to come if I didn’t want to.”

“You should have gone anyway,” Declan said, stepping aside to let his little brother in and closing the door behind him. “Kwoon training is important for finding a Drift partner.”

Matthew gave him a look. “You know that’s not a problem for me.”

Declan did know and that was the problem. It hadn’t taken Command long to realize Matthew was uncommonly Drift compatible. In theory, he could Drift with just about anyone which made Command really happy, and terrified Declan. He had plenty of experience with bad Drift partnerships, and he knew that just because you could Drift with someone didn’t mean you should. “I still wish you would try to form a bond with a Drift partner,” Declan said. “I don’t want you to end up paired with someone like Kavinsky.”

There was a long pause. Declan hadn’t even tried to keep his feelings about Ronan’s old Drift partner quiet and even if he had, Matthew knew him too well.

“Ronan’s not Drifting with Kavinsky anymore,” Matthew ventured. “You don’t need to worry about him anymore.”

“I know that,” Declan grumbled. “I’ve never been happier that someone got busted for piloting high.”

“Have you met his new copilot?” Matthew crossed the room and sat cross-legged on Declan’s desk chair.

“Adam Parrish?” Declan started making his bed mostly so he had something to do with his hands. “No. You know Ronan avoids me like I’ve got the plague.”

“Adam’s nice,” Matthew said. “Nothing like Kavinsky.”

“So I’ve heard,” Declan didn’t bother looking at his brother. He’d heard all about Parrish even before the kid started Drifting with Ronan. Supposedly Parrish had a boatload of trauma, but still didn’t bring anything to the Drift. Declan wasn’t sure if he believed that, but Ronan had been a lot less erratic since he and Adam had started Drifting, which was a good thing.

“Do you actually have a problem with Adam or are you just being contrary?” Matthew asked.

The problem actually was that Declan didn’t care who was Drifting with his brother, it wouldn’t be good enough unless he could get in a Jaeger and protect him. He’d learned not to say that because whenever he did someone inevitably pointed out that he could get back in a Jaeger if he’d just get passed his mental block, which made Declan want to punch someone, because if he knew how to convince his mind to allow him to Drift again, he’d have done it along time ago.

“I’m just being contrary,” Declan sighed and rubbed at his temples. He still had headache, but at least it was a vague one, he knew from experience that it could have been a lot worse.

Unfortunately, Matthew noticed. “Are you not feeling good?” he asked, all thoughts of Ronan and Parrish forgotten.

“I’m fine,” Declan said. “Don’t worry about it.”

Matthew crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at him. “Declan.”

“I said I’m fine!” Declan snapped. “I’m functional, that’s about all I can ask for, isn’t it?”

Matthew chewed on his lips. Declan could see him trying to decide what the best course of action was. “I wish you’d move back in with us,” he said after a minute. “You living here all alone when I know you won’t call if you need help makes me nervous.”

“I can’t move back in,” Declan said. “Mom wouldn’t allow it.”

“She would,” Matthew said. “I don’t think she’s mad at you anymore, though I wish you’d tell me what you said so I could check for sure.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Declan said.

“If it didn’t matter you wouldn’t be using it as an excuse,” Matthew said. “Come on, Declan. What was it?”

“Don’t worry about it, Matthew,” Declan said sharply. He certainly wasn’t going to tell his little brother that he’d told their mother that he knew Niall treated her like shit and that she didn’t need to stay with him for her sons’ sakes. Looking back, that probably hadn’t been the best course of action, but in his defense it had never occurred to him that Aurora Lynch might believe her husband when he told her that she was ugly and stupid and that she was lucky he loved her because no one else would. Aurora was the most wonderful and genuinely good person Declan had ever met and he’d thought she knew that. 

“I want you to move back in with us,” Matthew said. “Please, Declan.”

“Even if Mom would be okay with it, there’s still Ronan,” Declan pointed out. “He snarls and leaves the room if someone even mentions me.”

“He’s mostly living with Gansey now,” Matthew said. “It’s just me and Mom at the old apartment now.”

“Gansey?” Declan knew, vaguely, that General and Colonel Gansey’s son had moved into an apartment much bigger and nicer than Declan’s after his first Drift partner--his older sister, Helen--had died.

He was cut off by the alarms that began blaring through the base. Declan instinctively clapped his hands over his ears to block out the horrible sound which was irrevocably linked with memories of Drifting and being jerked around out of control of his own mind and body. His headache increased in severity and nerve pain crackled up and down his spine and limbs, his traitor body protesting the mere thought of Drifting again. 

It took him a minute or two to master himself enough to push the blaring siren into the back of his mind. Matthew was watching him with open concern. Declan tried to ignore it. “Ronan’s on call, isn’t he?” He asked. 

“Yeah.”

“Then we should go to the command center,” Declan fished his boots out from under his bed and pulled them on, his head throbbing in time with the blaring siren. He wished it would shut up. 

“Declan, what just happened there?” Matthew asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m always okay,” Declan lied. “Come on. Let’s get moving.”

~~~~

“It’s a double event,” General Gansey said to the people gathering . Despite the relatively early hour she was immaculately put together. Declan had never seen her lose her composure even when her daughter had died, which he suspected was exactly what she intended. The Gansey family was not known for their public displays of emotion, something Declan--who also preferred to give the outside world an unfeeling mask--could completely understand. “Greywaren Dreamer and Raven King will attack first and Blue Lily will hold back in case they need help,” she announced.

No one mentioned that it would really have been helpful to have two backup Jaegers but the death of Persephone Poldma had left Fox Way down a pilot. The Jaeger was entirely programmed and designed for three pilots so the lack of one meant that Maura Sargent and Calla Johnson were grounded until they found a new third pilot or completely reprogrammed their Jaeger. There were no other Jaegers at the base save the new state-of-the-art Mark BLANK Jaeger which had no pilots yet. They would have to make due with three Jaegers and hope for the best.

Matthew headed over to talk to Aurora who was sitting on a bench before the big screens, hands clasped together, exactly as she always had whenever a member of her family was fighting Kaiju. Declan avoided looking directly at her because he didn’t want to know what kind of expression would be on her face when she looked at him. Instead he walked right up to the screens and studied the information scrolling across them.

The various pilots were in their Jaegers preparing for the Drift. Over the intercoms, he could hear the six pilots laughing and joking with each other. It was a little bizarre. Declan remembered this part as anxiously trying to brace himself for what he knew was coming while Niall bragged and basked in the attention of his sycophants.

He ignored everyone else in the room, studied the screens and tried not to think about anything too hard.

~~~~

Almost right from the start things didn’t go well. The Kaiju were big and unusually smart. Gansey III and Henry Cheng were literally hurled through a couple buildings and Blue Sargent and Noah Czerny went to help them. Ronan and Parrish at least at first appeared to be doing better, at least for now.

Declan stood before the screens, arms crossed, bouncing up and down on his heels. Everyone ignored him, even Matthew who was sitting across the room with Aurora basking in family companionship. That was all okay, though, Declan was used to being in the background. The brief spot of fame he’d had for his solo kill of the Kaiju that had offed Niall had actually been disconcerting and a little frightening. He wasn’t used to being noticed and he didn’t know how to describe an experience that he had found overwhelming and painful in a way that sounded heroic. He’d almost been thankful when everyone realized he couldn’t Drift anymore and started leaving him alone again.

He also was a little thankful that he wasn’t one of the people in a Jaeger today. That was something he was ashamed of because he suspected his intense desire to never Drift again was part of the reason he couldn’t manage to Drift. The problem was that he needed to be able to Drift. Someday Ronan would get in over his head and when that happened Declan would be stuck watching him die unless he could get back in a Jaeger, regardless of whether or not he actually wanted to.

**[Unwritten stuff: The battle goes south quickly. Ronan and Adam get trapped with their Jaeger disabled or rebooting or something. Gansey, Blue and the others are having trouble with the other Kaiju and can't come to help. The people in the command center are trying to figure out what to do.]**

“There’s that new Jaeger,” Matthew said. “Put me in it.”

“You don’t have a partner, Lynch,” General Gansey said. “You cannot pilot it alone.”

“I’m not going to be piloting alone,” Matthew said in a tone of voice that suggested it was ridiculous General Gansey would even suggest that. “I’m going to be piloting with Declan.”

The command center would have gone silent as the grave if not for the blaring of alarms. Everyone stared; no one breathed. After a moment, Declan forced himself to speak, “I can’t Drift with anyone, Matthew,” he said. “You know that.” Saying it, admitting it out loud for the first time, was the most humiliating thing he had ever done, but it was still better than it would have been if he’d given someone else the chance to say it.

“But you won’t be Drifting with just anyone,” Matthew said, like it was so simple. “You’ll be Drifting with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the most basic, abbreviated terms, after this Matthew manages to convince Declan to try Drifting with him. It's very hairy at first, but eventually they managed to establish a stable Drift and rescue Ronan and Adam. This was conceptualized as a short story, so that would be where it ended.


End file.
